Cinema Copied My Dreams

Tilda Swinton and Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (1970) have been dream friends for years. Both consider it important in their work – as in their lives – to open themselves completely to the world and to listen to what the planet is telling us humans. They talked about what was to become Memoria (2021) for seventeen years: a meditative film about an orchid specialist in mourning who hears a strange, loud banging sound and tries to find out what it means.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oeuvre also contains Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, winner of a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival), and Tropical Malady (2004), which earned him the Jury Prize at the same festival six years previously. Weerasethakul works outside the strict boundaries of the Thai film studio system and has directed various features and dozens of short films.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton recorded a short 16mm film for the exhibition Tilda Swinton – Ongoing in Eye. Swinton and Weerasethakul – both film history connoisseurs – have selected their favourite short artist films and will discuss their choices with one another and the audience. They will also show a short films they have made together.